Farmers' Market Canandaigua

Farmers' Market Quick Paint Competition

Framing Quick Paint Entry

This was the seventh and final painting done at the Finger Lakes Competition and Festival.   It was a little different from the first six paintings in that this was a timed "quick paint" event.   Painters were given two hours to complete a plein air painting plus a half hour to frame and walk it over to the Town Common where it would be on display with the thirty other entries.

That morning, I still had not decided what and where to paint when I heard someone mention that the Farmers' Market takes place each Saturday morning.   After checking into the quick paint event I pulled into a parking space right next to where the farm vans loaded with produce were pulling in.   The rows of vegetable and flower flats near my van caught my eye.   There was a nice large bucket of tall peonies, a reminder of the peonies from day before.   Farmers Doug and Walt had backed their red van into their space and were working out of the back of it.

Once they realized what I was doing they occasionally came over to check progress.   I decided to include Doug who wore a yellow shirt that stood out despite being in full shadow.  Walt lamented that he wasn't in the painting so I explained about the yellow shirt.  He then proceeded to tell Doug that they should switch shirts.   Haha!

It turned out that the person who bought this painting knows Walt and Doug, and further, her grandfather was one of the first five farmers who started the Canandaigua farmers' market.   The painting is with the right person!